One thing that happens with living in Tucson are sightings of urban wildlife. Urban wildlife sightings are much more prevalent where I'm at than they are downtown, as that I'm on what used to be the eastern fringe of Tucson. Walks in my neighborhood will usually result in sightings of rabbits (not really native to Arizona), desert quail, and mourning doves. Once in a while I'll see a coyote on my street. Coyotes are notionally nocturnal creatures, but they can and will operate 24/7. I've seen them in broad daylight, in the early morning hours (which is when I usually see them) and at night.
This morning I finally got to see javelina! If you don't know what javelina are, they are piglike animals that are native to the Southwest. There are javelina populations in New Mexico and Texas, and as far south as Central America. The English name for them is "peccary" but here we call them javelina.
Javelina travel in herds, typically seven to fifteen in a herd. This morning there were two of them. It was daylight; the sun had not yet broken over the rim of the Rincons, but a new day was dawning and a beautiful one at that. After I had backed out of my driveway, I saw some motion in the corner of my eye and I thought some dogs had gotten loose.
Instead it was two javelina, and rather big ones at that. They were right next to my next door neighbor's house! He usually leaves for work at the same time as I do, but apparently he had already left or had not yet left. Meantime, I'm in my truck, and I'm transfixed at what I'm seeing.
The javelina went under the iron gate that the City of Tucson installed to wall off the wash that's behind my back wall. I know javelina have been back there before but now I actually saw two of them get back there.
OK, so how do I know javelina have been back there?
Javelina like to eat prickly pear cacti pads. When you're out hiking in the desert, prickly pear are common, and if you look closely you'll notice that some pads look like someone or something has taken a few bites out of them. That's a sure sign that javelina live in the area, though a herd I think has a territory of a few square miles. The prickly pear behind my back wall have been feasted upon by these interesting creatures, but it's hard to tell how recent a feeding has taken place. The prickly pear just goes on as normal, not seeming to care that some wild animals have come up to feast on it.
There is one way to tell though if a javelina herd has recently been in the area. They smell. They smell bad. They smell really bad. They smell like skunks.
I wasn't aware of javelina smell until a few years ago when Todd and I were out hunting in Graham County about ten miles south of Safford. We were on a hillside, and I smelled skunk smell and concluded that Pepe Le Pew had been in the area recently. That's not necessarily an erroneous conclusion, as that we have skunks in the desert too, and I've seen them here before. I mentioned something to Todd about it, and a half hour after that we were at my truck which was some 400 yards away.
We were fixing to leave; I think I was having a cold beverage while Todd was glassing the hillside. (Glassing means using binoculars.....we hunters depend on specialized optics to spot game). He said "Dave, there are javelina on that hillside!" I took a look, and sure enough, there were, right where we had been just a half hour before! There were about seven of them, and the apparent "boss" of the herd was the one on the far most left. We watched them for about fifteen minutes or so. Dusk was approaching, and they were out feeding. We couldn't help but watch them. I mean, how often do you get this kind of opportunity?
It wasn't my first time seeing them in the wild, and this morning's sighting won't be my last. I've seen them in the grasslands near Harshaw, I've seen them over the back wall at a co-worker's place, I've seen them on resort grounds in the northwest of Tucson and I've even spooked one of them before while out hunting.
They can be very difficult to see in the wild. During the day they tend to rest, and they're quite skilled at bedding down under trees, where their coloration blends in excellently well with the shadow of the tree that they're sleeping under. It's possible to look right at one of them to not even know that they're there.
Javelina are considered game animals, and Fish & Game have a spring and fall season. You have to get tags, and the seasons are two weeks long in the spring if my recollection is correct, and only one week in the fall.
I don't know how their meat is. I've heard conflicting stories. Some say it's good, others say it's gamey.
What I do know is that they have scent glands on their hind legs, which accounts for the skunk smell that they leave behind. If you bag one, you have to cut that gland off before you field dress them. If that gland squirts out and sprays the meat, then the meat for all practical purposes, is ruined.
Todd and I missed the boat on javelina tags this past spring, and for this fall, we decided that mule deer would be a better choice. We should pay stricter attention to next year's seasons and get our tag applications in this time.
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